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Europe’s powerful Milky Way mapper is facing some problems as controllers ready the Gaia telescope for operations. It turns out that there is “stray light” bleeding into the telescope, which will affect how well it can see the stars around it. Also, the telescope optics are also not transmitting as efficiently as the design predicted. […]...

Galaxy mappers will just have to hold tight – a trio of technical troubles means that the first release of data from the Gaia space telescope has been pushed back to the middle of 2016, nine months later than originally planned. Launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in December 2013, Gaia will use its 1.5-gigapixel camera to catalogue a billion stars in our galaxy,...

One billion stars mapped: That’s the mission of the Gaia space telescope, from the European Space Agency. Yesterday, the Agency released the first set of data from Gaia, BBC News reports. BBC Science correspondent Jonathan Amos calls it “the most precise map of the night sky ever assembled.” Gaia has so far recorded “the position and brightness of over a billion stars.” The...

Gaia Mapping the Milky Way

Gaia Mapping the Milky Way

The most detailed 3D map yet of a billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy was released in September 2016, along with a sneak peek at brand-new data on millions of stars collected by ESA\'s Gaia spacecraft. In a statement, ESA\'s Science Director Alvaro Giménez said that \"Gaia is at the forefront of astrometry, charting the sky at precisions that have never been achieved before.\"
The spacecraft, launched in December 2013, was named after the Greek Mother Earth goddess, known by the Romans as Terra. It has been circling the Sun 1.5 million kilometres beyond Earth\'s orbit and has been discreetly snapping pictures of the Milky Way. The satellite\'s billion-pixel camera, that has a resolution over 50 times greater than the one onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, is so powerful it would be able to gauge the diameter of a human hair at a distance of 1,000 kilometres, meaning nearby stars have been located with unprecedented accuracy.
Just over half-way through its five-year mission, Gaia\'s two telescopes have located a billion stars, scattered over an area 100,000 light years in diameter. While this may be the biggest and most ambitious galaxy-mapping endeavor yet, the vast amount of stars observed in this mission will represent only about 1 percent of all of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. But it\'s enough to keep professional stargazers busy for years to come.
The Gaia spacecraft is controlled from the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, using ground stations in Cebreros, Spain and New Norcia in Australia. According to chairman of the Gaia consortium Anthony ...

Gaia Mapping the Milky Way

published:29 Aug 2017

views:10

The most detailed 3D map yet of a billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy was released in September 2016, along with a sneak peek at brand-new data on millions of stars collected by ESA\'s Gaia spacecraft. In a statement, ESA\'s Science Director Alvaro Giménez said that \"Gaia is at the forefront of astrometry, charting the sky at precisions that have never been achieved before.\"
The spacecraft, launched in December 2013, was named after the Greek Mother Earth goddess, known by the Romans as Terra. It has been circling the Sun 1.5 million kilometres beyond Earth\'s orbit and has been discreetly snapping pictures of the Milky Way. The satellite\'s billion-pixel camera, that has a resolution over 50 times greater than the one onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, is so powerful it would be able to gauge the diameter of a human hair at a distance of 1,000 kilometres, meaning nearby stars have been located with unprecedented accuracy.
Just over half-way through its five-year mission, Gaia\'s two telescopes have located a billion stars, scattered over an area 100,000 light years in diameter. While this may be the biggest and most ambitious galaxy-mapping endeavor yet, the vast amount of stars observed in this mission will represent only about 1 percent of all of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. But it\'s enough to keep professional stargazers busy for years to come.
The Gaia spacecraft is controlled from the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, using ground stations in Cebreros, Spain and New Norcia in Australia. According to chairman of the Gaia consortium Anthony ...

ESA'S GAIA FIRST DATA RELEASE EXPLAINED

ESA'S GAIA FIRST DATA RELEASE EXPLAINED

Gaia is a space observatory of the European Space Agency designed for astrometry: measuring the positions and distances of stars with unprecedented precision.
Credit: ESA
Follow Us:
Facebook: https://goo.gl/QapZAe
Twitter: https://goo.gl/RoQSmJ...

ESA'S GAIA FIRST DATA RELEASE EXPLAINED

published:19 Jun 2017

views:65

Gaia is a space observatory of the European Space Agency designed for astrometry: measuring the positions and distances of stars with unprecedented precision.
Credit: ESA
Follow Us:
Facebook: https://goo.gl/QapZAe
Twitter: https://goo.gl/RoQSmJ...

The future of the Orion constellation

The future of the Orion constellation

This video reveals how our view of the Orion constellation will evolve over the next 450 000 years.
Amid a myriad of drifting stars, the shape of Orion as defined by its brightest stars is slowly rearranged into a new pattern as time goes by.
The portion of the sky depicted in the video measures 40 x 20º – as a comparison, the diameter of the full Moon in the sky is about half a degree.
The video is based on data from ESA\'s Gaia and Hipparcos satellites, as well as additional information from ground-based observations.
A speeded-up version of the video is available here: http://sci.esa.int/gaia/59209
Full story: The future of the Orion constellation http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Gaia/The_future_of_the_Orion_constellation
The evolution of two million stellar positions on the entire sky is shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87lgSRVUSxM
Credit: Copyright: ESA/Gaia/DPAC...

The future of the Orion constellation

published:09 Jun 2017

views:17982

This video reveals how our view of the Orion constellation will evolve over the next 450 000 years.
Amid a myriad of drifting stars, the shape of Orion as defined by its brightest stars is slowly rearranged into a new pattern as time goes by.
The portion of the sky depicted in the video measures 40 x 20º – as a comparison, the diameter of the full Moon in the sky is about half a degree.
The video is based on data from ESA\'s Gaia and Hipparcos satellites, as well as additional information from ground-based observations.
A speeded-up version of the video is available here: http://sci.esa.int/gaia/59209
Full story: The future of the Orion constellation http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Gaia/The_future_of_the_Orion_constellation
The evolution of two million stellar positions on the entire sky is shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87lgSRVUSxM
Credit: Copyright: ESA/Gaia/DPAC...

Christophe Arviset, ESA Gaia and Euclid Missions Online Data Sharing

Christophe Arviset is the Head of the Data and Engineering Division at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC). The European Space Agency’s (ESA) current mission Gaia and upcoming one Euclid will generate massive amounts of astronomical data to be made freely available on-line through powerful data management systems. This big data era brings a change of paradigm and associated big challenges for building these missions’ archives. The current use case of “bring the data to the user” is being replaced by the new concept of “bring the user to the data”. This new generation of science archives is transforming into science exploitation and collaborative platforms, where the users can send her/his code to the data, run it on computing and storage services provided directly by the archive (where the data reside), and easily share all this with other scientists they’re collaborating with. You can watch Christophe Arviset\'s keynote at Linaro Connect here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZFVMsrkMtg...

Christophe Arviset, ESA Gaia and Euclid Missions Online Data Sharing

published:09 May 2017

views:166

Christophe Arviset is the Head of the Data and Engineering Division at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC). The European Space Agency’s (ESA) current mission Gaia and upcoming one Euclid will generate massive amounts of astronomical data to be made freely available on-line through powerful data management systems. This big data era brings a change of paradigm and associated big challenges for building these missions’ archives. The current use case of “bring the data to the user” is being replaced by the new concept of “bring the user to the data”. This new generation of science archives is transforming into science exploitation and collaborative platforms, where the users can send her/his code to the data, run it on computing and storage services provided directly by the archive (where the data reside), and easily share all this with other scientists they’re collaborating with. You can watch Christophe Arviset\'s keynote at Linaro Connect here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZFVMsrkMtg...

ESA / GAIA : The motion of two million stars - 5 Million years into the future

Published on Apr 12, 2017
This video shows the 2 057 050 stars from the TGAS sample, which was published as part of the first data release of ESA\'s Gaia mission (Gaia DR1) on 14 September 2016, with the addition of 24 320 bright stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue that are not included in Gaia\'s first data release. The stars are plotted in Galactic coordinates and using a rectangular projection: in this, the plane of the Milky Way stands out as the horizontal band with greater density of stars.
The video starts from the positions of stars as measured by Gaia between 2014 and 2015, and shows how these positions are expected to evolve in the future, based on the proper motions from TGAS. The frames in the video are separated by 750 years, and the overall sequence covers 5 million years. The stripes visible in the early frames reflect the way Gaia scans the sky and the preliminary nature of the first data release; these artefacts are gradually washed out in the video as stars move across the sky.
The shape of the Orion constellation can be spotted towards the right edge of the frame, just below the Galactic Plane, at the beginning of the video. As the sequence proceeds, the familiar shape of this constellation (and others) evolves into a new pattern. Two stellar clusters – groups of stars that were born together and consequently move together – can be seen towards the left edge of the frame: these are the alpha Persei (Per OB3) and Pleiades open clusters.
Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC
More information about this video can be found at: http://sci.esa.int/gaia/59005-the-mot...
Sub...

ESA / GAIA : The motion of two million stars - 5 Million years into the future

published:15 Apr 2017

views:24362

Published on Apr 12, 2017
This video shows the 2 057 050 stars from the TGAS sample, which was published as part of the first data release of ESA\'s Gaia mission (Gaia DR1) on 14 September 2016, with the addition of 24 320 bright stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue that are not included in Gaia\'s first data release. The stars are plotted in Galactic coordinates and using a rectangular projection: in this, the plane of the Milky Way stands out as the horizontal band with greater density of stars.
The video starts from the positions of stars as measured by Gaia between 2014 and 2015, and shows how these positions are expected to evolve in the future, based on the proper motions from TGAS. The frames in the video are separated by 750 years, and the overall sequence covers 5 million years. The stripes visible in the early frames reflect the way Gaia scans the sky and the preliminary nature of the first data release; these artefacts are gradually washed out in the video as stars move across the sky.
The shape of the Orion constellation can be spotted towards the right edge of the frame, just below the Galactic Plane, at the beginning of the video. As the sequence proceeds, the familiar shape of this constellation (and others) evolves into a new pattern. Two stellar clusters – groups of stars that were born together and consequently move together – can be seen towards the left edge of the frame: these are the alpha Persei (Per OB3) and Pleiades open clusters.
Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC
More information about this video can be found at: http://sci.esa.int/gaia/59005-the-mot...
Sub...

The motion of two million stars

The motion of two million stars

This video reveals the changing face of our Galaxy, tracing the motion of two million stars five million years into the future using data from the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution, one of the products of the first Gaia data release. This provides a preview of the stellar motions that will be revealed in Gaia’s future data releases, which will enable scientists to investigate the formation history of our Galaxy.
The stars are plotted in Galactic coordinates and using a rectangular projection: in this, the plane of the Milky Way stands out as the horizontal band with greater density of stars.
The video starts from the positions of stars as measured by Gaia between 2014 and 2015, and shows how these positions are expected to evolve. The frames in the video are separated by 750 years, and the overall sequence covers five million years. The stripes visible in the early frames reflect the way Gaia scans the sky and the preliminary nature of the first data release; these artefacts are gradually washed out in the video as stars move across the sky.
The shape of the Orion constellation can be spotted towards the right edge of the frame, just below the Galactic Plane, at the beginning of the video. As the sequence proceeds, the familiar shape of this constellation (and others) evolves into a new pattern. Two stellar clusters – groups of stars that were born together and consequently move together – can be seen towards the left edge of the frame: these are the alpha Persei (Per OB3) and Pleiades open clusters.
More about this video:
http://sci.esa.int/gaia/59004-two-million-stars-...

The motion of two million stars

published:13 Apr 2017

views:16045

This video reveals the changing face of our Galaxy, tracing the motion of two million stars five million years into the future using data from the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution, one of the products of the first Gaia data release. This provides a preview of the stellar motions that will be revealed in Gaia’s future data releases, which will enable scientists to investigate the formation history of our Galaxy.
The stars are plotted in Galactic coordinates and using a rectangular projection: in this, the plane of the Milky Way stands out as the horizontal band with greater density of stars.
The video starts from the positions of stars as measured by Gaia between 2014 and 2015, and shows how these positions are expected to evolve. The frames in the video are separated by 750 years, and the overall sequence covers five million years. The stripes visible in the early frames reflect the way Gaia scans the sky and the preliminary nature of the first data release; these artefacts are gradually washed out in the video as stars move across the sky.
The shape of the Orion constellation can be spotted towards the right edge of the frame, just below the Galactic Plane, at the beginning of the video. As the sequence proceeds, the familiar shape of this constellation (and others) evolves into a new pattern. Two stellar clusters – groups of stars that were born together and consequently move together – can be seen towards the left edge of the frame: these are the alpha Persei (Per OB3) and Pleiades open clusters.
More about this video:
http://sci.esa.int/gaia/59004-two-million-stars-...

Gaia

Gaia

This video shows the 2 057 050 stars from the TGAS sample, which was published as part of the first data release of ESA\'s Gaia mission (Gaia DR1) on 14 September 2016, with the addition of 24 320 bright stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue that are not included in Gaia\'s first data release. The stars are plotted in Galactic coordinates and using a rectangular projection: in this, the plane of the Milky Way stands out as the horizontal band with greater density of stars. The video starts from the positions of stars as measured by Gaia between 2014 and 2015, and shows how these positions are expected to evolve in the future, based on the proper motions from TGAS. The frames in the video are separated by 750 years, and the overall sequence covers 5 million years. The stripes visible in the early frames reflect the way Gaia scans the sky and the preliminary nature of the first data release; these artefacts are gradually washed out in the video as stars move across the sky. The shape of the Orion constellation can be spotted towards the right edge of the frame, just below the Galactic Plane, at the beginning of the video. As the sequence proceeds, the familiar shape of this constellation (and others) evolves into a new pattern. Two stellar clusters – groups of stars that were born together and consequently move together – can be seen towards the left edge of the frame: these are the alpha Persei (Per OB3) and Pleiades open clusters....

Gaia

published:12 Apr 2017

views:239

This video shows the 2 057 050 stars from the TGAS sample, which was published as part of the first data release of ESA\'s Gaia mission (Gaia DR1) on 14 September 2016, with the addition of 24 320 bright stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue that are not included in Gaia\'s first data release. The stars are plotted in Galactic coordinates and using a rectangular projection: in this, the plane of the Milky Way stands out as the horizontal band with greater density of stars. The video starts from the positions of stars as measured by Gaia between 2014 and 2015, and shows how these positions are expected to evolve in the future, based on the proper motions from TGAS. The frames in the video are separated by 750 years, and the overall sequence covers 5 million years. The stripes visible in the early frames reflect the way Gaia scans the sky and the preliminary nature of the first data release; these artefacts are gradually washed out in the video as stars move across the sky. The shape of the Orion constellation can be spotted towards the right edge of the frame, just below the Galactic Plane, at the beginning of the video. As the sequence proceeds, the familiar shape of this constellation (and others) evolves into a new pattern. Two stellar clusters – groups of stars that were born together and consequently move together – can be seen towards the left edge of the frame: these are the alpha Persei (Per OB3) and Pleiades open clusters....

Gaia: Working with astrometric data

Gaia: Working with astrometric data

Xavier Luri - Barcelona University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/XL-AstrometryUse-DataWorkshop-2016_web.pdf...

Gaia: Working with astrometric data

published:03 Apr 2017

views:326

Xavier Luri - Barcelona University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/XL-AstrometryUse-DataWorkshop-2016_web.pdf...

Gaia: Astrometry

Gaia: Astrometry

Lennart Lindegren - Lund University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GaiaDR1-Astrometry-LL.pdf...

Gaia: Astrometry

published:03 Apr 2017

views:523

Lennart Lindegren - Lund University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GaiaDR1-Astrometry-LL.pdf...

Gaia: Photometry

Gaia: Photometry

Floor van Leeuwen - Cambridge University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GDR1Photometry.pdf...

Gaia: Photometry

published:03 Apr 2017

views:331

Floor van Leeuwen - Cambridge University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GDR1Photometry.pdf...

Gaia: Discussion session - Astrometry

Gaia: Discussion session - Astrometry

Chair: Lennart Lindegren - Lund University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GaiaDR1-Astrometry-discussion.pdf...

Gaia: Discussion session - Astrometry

published:03 Apr 2017

views:213

Chair: Lennart Lindegren - Lund University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GaiaDR1-Astrometry-discussion.pdf...

Gaia: External catalogues in the Gaia archive

Gaia: External catalogues in the Gaia archive

Paola Marrese - ASI Science Data Centre
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GDR1_XM_marrese_final.pdf...

Gaia: External catalogues in the Gaia archive

published:03 Apr 2017

views:212

Paola Marrese - ASI Science Data Centre
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GDR1_XM_marrese_final.pdf...

The most detailed 3D map yet of a billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy was released in September 2016, along with a sneak peek at brand-new data on millions of stars collected by ESA\'s Gaia spacecraft. In a statement, ESA\'s Science Director Alvaro Giménez said that \"Gaia is at the forefront of astr

Gaia is a space observatory of the European Space Agency designed for astrometry: measuring the positions and distances of stars with unprecedented precision.
Credit: ESA
Follow Us:
Facebook: https://goo.gl/QapZAe
Twitter: https://goo.gl/RoQSmJ

This video reveals how our view of the Orion constellation will evolve over the next 450 000 years.
Amid a myriad of drifting stars, the shape of Orion as defined by its brightest stars is slowly rearranged into a new pattern as time goes by.
The portion of the sky depicted in the video measures 4

Christophe Arviset is the Head of the Data and Engineering Division at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC). The European Space Agency’s (ESA) current mission Gaia and upcoming one Euclid will generate massive amounts of astronomical data to be made freely available on-line through powerful

Published on Apr 12, 2017
This video shows the 2 057 050 stars from the TGAS sample, which was published as part of the first data release of ESA\'s Gaia mission (Gaia DR1) on 14 September 2016, with the addition of 24 320 bright stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue that are not included in Gaia\'s firs

This video reveals the changing face of our Galaxy, tracing the motion of two million stars five million years into the future using data from the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution, one of the products of the first Gaia data release. This provides a preview of the stellar motions that will be revealed

This video shows the 2 057 050 stars from the TGAS sample, which was published as part of the first data release of ESA\'s Gaia mission (Gaia DR1) on 14 September 2016, with the addition of 24 320 bright stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue that are not included in Gaia\'s first data release. The stars

Xavier Luri - Barcelona University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/XL-AstrometryUse-DataWorkshop-2016_

Lennart Lindegren - Lund University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GaiaDR1-Astrometry-LL.pdf

Floor van Leeuwen - Cambridge University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GDR1Photometry.pdf

Chair: Lennart Lindegren - Lund University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GaiaDR1-Astrometry-discuss

Paola Marrese - ASI Science Data Centre
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/GDR1_XM_marrese_final.pdf

Frédéric Arenou - Paris Observatory
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/Validation+-+Gaia+2016+Data+Relea

Laurent Eyer - Geneva University
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/ESAC_GaiaWorkshop_Eyer.pdf

Bruno Merín - ESA
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/20161104_ESASky_GaiaDR12016WS_ESAC.pdf
ESASky can

Alcione Mora - ESA
Presentation recorded during the first Gaia data workshop at ESA\'s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) 2-4 November 2016.
The slides to this presentation are available here:
http://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/2016_11_02_dr1Workshop_AlcioneMora.pdf